Miscellaneous Writings

Friday Night Football

I sat on the visiting side watching my son play football against the worst team in the school district. The other team was being slaughtered. However the spectator turn out was huge. The seats were packed on the home side. If nothing else they had fans.

The other team hadn't won a game the whole season but still they played. I had to give them credit because they kept going. They kept trying. It was obvious those boys were trying hard and playing harder. The problem was there weren't a lot of big kids on the team. I'm not sure what was going on in this district but the boys were on the small side. My son probably had twenty-five pounds more to throw around. But they were persistent and turned out to every game ready to give it everything they had.

I decided to buy myself a hot chocolate and walked to the concession stand. There I met a mother of a boy from the home team.

"Those boys play hard."

Smiling she replied, "Yes they do. Although their eating a lot of grass tonight."

I laughed. "Yes, they are. But they seem to be good sports and very eager to play."

"The coach is great. Even though they haven't won a game he has a way of making them enjoy the game and continue playing. There are some teams that have been pretty nasty asking why they bother to play at all. I feel sorry for the boys on those teams. Obviously winning is all they play for. Our boys play because they enjoy the game. They don't care if they win or loose, they just like to play. It's like getting together at the park. So our boys may not win but they're winners to all of us."

"That's pretty awesome to hear in my book. But you're right, these games are taken to the extreme and some teams are pushed to win, win, win. I think that the philosophy behind what these boys do will make them stronger leaders than boys who are told they'll be nothing but losers if they don't win the game."

"Well it's been really great talking with you. I need to get back to my little one. Enjoy the rest of the game."

"Yeah, it's been great talking with you, too. Thank you."

As I walked back to the bleachers I looked at the field just in time to see the other team actually make a touchdown! I found myself cheering with them. Our team was so far ahead the one touch down wouldn't make a difference but I know it made a difference to the other team. The father of one of the players on our team gave me the strangest look.

"It doesn't hurt, right? It's the one and only touchdown they've made all night. Good for them." I said as I walked past him back to my seat.